Page 111 of When Hearts Collide

His hand captures mine and he pulls me closer to him, pressing my body tightly against his chest. I look up and the overwhelming love shining from his eyes steals my breath.

“I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve been missing you the entire day,” he whispers before pressing a soft kiss on my lips.

“When I saw you in there, I wanted to haul you out of the room because you looked so beautiful. I didn’t want any other men looking at you.” He swipes his tongue over my bottom lip before sucking on it, sending sparks to my belly.

He rasps, “If this makes me a terrible professor, so be it.”

I grin and lightly bite on his bottom lip, enjoying the sharp hiss of lust slipping from his mouth. He palms the curves of my backside, tugging me flush against him so I feel his hard erection digging into my stomach.

“You’re a wonderful professor.” I grind myself on him and he groans as I move up and down the outline of his cock. The pulsing between my thighs intensifies, nearly distracting me from my period pains. “So much…hands on instruction.”

“You dirty little minx.” His panting breaths are hard against my ear. “If I didn’t need to be at my own event, I’d set you down on the fountain ledge, flip up your dress, and fuck the impertinence out of you.”

Biting back a grin, I step back, knowing he can’t stay here for too long before his absence is noticed. I wink. “Merry Christmas, Ryland. I hope the magic of the season brings happiness to your heart.”

His eyes darken to inky pools of tar, a muscle pulsing in his jaw. His lips part and tremble, one hand reaching into his pant pocket, retrieving something he has tightly curled inside his palm.

“You bring happiness to my heart,” he whispers.

Ryland takes a step back, a flush creeping up his neck as his lips curve into a shaky smile. He blows out a rough exhale before unclasping his fist.

A silver chain dangles from his fingers. A delicate silver key, encrusted with tiny, sparkling diamonds.

Half of his mother’s pendant.

My mouth parts in a gasp, my eyes darting up to his face.

With unsteady hands, he unclasps the fastening and reaches around me before gently securing the necklace around my neck. He heaves out another breath as his fingers trail over the chain to the delicate key nestled over the cleavage of my dress.

“I knew it’d look beautiful on you. Like it was supposed to be around your neck all along,” he murmurs, his voice hoarse, his attention focused on the key.

My heart spins in a dizzy rhythm, my lungs ceasing to work.

“Thank you for allowing it to have an owner, Millie.” Slowly, he drags his gaze up to mine and the passionate ardor in those bottomless pools robs me of all words. “Merry Christmas, my little lark.”

My eyes brim with tears and with a choked sob, I pull his head toward mine and seal my lips with his. Maybe I won’t get his public kiss today, but I have his heart in my hands.

And that has to be okay…for now. It has to be.

My fingers grip his thick hair, my kiss ardent, desperate, my entire being needing to taste him more than I need oxygen in my lungs. He groans as he tightens his clasp around my waist, his tongue invading my mouth, swirling, savoring, ravishing me.

The kiss is intoxicating, an emotionally drunken affair of rioting storms and tethered thoughts and my heart feels full even as uneasiness threads inside me, so insidious, I almost don’t notice it.

Desperately, I cling to him, meeting him kiss after kiss, suction after suction, the maddening bursts of pleasure sparking over my body, tuning every cell inside me to the vibration that is him.

He loves me.

He doesn’t need to tell me the words. I can feel it in the pressure of his kisses, the weight of the pendant around my neck.

That has to be enough. The refrain echoes in my mind, stemming the blood loss from my heart and yet, not enough to seal the wound.

Our kiss turns heated, his mouth trailing down the sensitive column of my neck as I lean back and let out a moan.

“I’m tired of fighting, Millie.” He rakes his teeth over the pulse point near my collarbone.

“Nothing has ever felt so right. I need you more than I need sustenance, more than I need to feel the harsh elements of Mother Nature on my skin.” His hand caresses the sensitive swell of my breast and kneads it as I let out a keening cry.

I feel the same way, Ryland. Please, take the leap with me.

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